new york times' kelefeh sanneh on the white stripes, get behind me satan and retro-rock

not sure i agree with this (there are *lots* of models for this kinda {bowel} movement), but i think it's an interesting thought, since didn't the strokes actually hit first (and perhaps bigger) in england? they definitely seemed to be on tour there a lot, when they just had EPs out. (in fact, i think their first EP may have showed up on american shores as a UK import.) and the same thing has happened with some american post-strokes new-new-wave hypes since -- definitely the bravery and the scissors sisters (if they count); not sure who else.(do interpol have brit hits? in the states, near as i can tell, they've never gotten much beyond college radio, though anthony can check the charts and correct me i'm wrong.) so maybe the reason i don' t notice the movement as much as some other people here is that i don't read the british music papers, who may well have invented the movement in the first place...

The LA Sunday Times today turned the subject of this thread into a grease spot with a story so big, the pictures alone take up more space than the column inches of Sanneh. The photos, of which there are four of Jack and Meg White, are all bigger than your head! Get the print version, cut them out and use them as masks!

Robert Hilburn travelled to Pine Grove, Pennsylvania, strike that, Detroit, MI, to interview Jack and a silent Meg White.

Excerpts, you'll swoon:

..."Get Behind Me Floyd" is a daring creative advance..."

"The White Stripes' Jack White is ready for a break as he slips behind the wheel of his vintage four-seat..."

"A new sound of independence..." (in 50-point pika, or whatever the designation is for lettering that's really big)

"The fifth album proves they've earned their stripes..."

"...the recording sessions left even the normally workaholic White drained..."

"Everything about Jack White's car, from the upholstery to the tinny radio -- is original - except for the supercharged engine features that make the car roar loud as a jet..."

"White makes his way back to the living room and sits in a chair by a picture of Rita Hayworth..."

"She was a metaphor for everything I could think of...the red hair, the innocence, the fact that she lost her memory to Alzheimer's..."

"I hate the celebrity stuff," [said White]. It trivializes everything..."

"Meg's so shy it's probably a relief Jack does all the talking..."

"Whatever his musical path, White is unlikely to temper his musical vision..."

http://www.latimes.com -- ya can't miss it. Subscription site, use
Bugmenot.

I'll give 'em a pass on the car though: could be a Detroit thing (search, Woodward Dream Cruise)

http://www.woodwarddreamcruise.com/Photos.html

I suspect that from a UK Press perspective, The Strokes weren't really a reaction against non-rock (though there were still a lot of "Rock is back!" taglines) so much as a reaction to not-so-rock rock that had had a lot of currency at that point in time - on the one hand US pansy-psych-pop like latter-day The Flaming Lips and Mercury Rev, and on the other hand the mournful MoR of Coldplay and Travis. The battlefield as such is more intra-rock (and only a small part of it) than rock vs [x].